Basu: Howard Dean tries to be both a firebrand, nice guy

Aug. 22, 2013

Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, center, chats with state Rep. Bruce Hunter, left, and former state Rep. Nate Willems, right, before speaking at the Iowa Federation of Labor convention on Wednesday in Altoona. / CHARLIE NEIBERGALL/AP PHOTOS

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Ten years ago, Howard Dean stood on an Indianola platform and, with a simple declaration, distinguished himself in a field of big-name presidential contenders looking to make their mark with Democratic voters.

“I want my country back, Mr. President,” he roared.

After a long dry spell, here was a Democrat willing to call out the George W. Bush administration on just how far the country had strayed from its values by starting unprovoked wars and widening the income gap with tax breaks for the rich.

Dean’s words that day fed a hunger deep within. It became a refrain, and then a movement, spread by enthusiastic young supporters who’d been largely outside the political process. For some of us (not enough, as it turns out) the former Vermont governor was the one who most got it, who burned with passion and who could win.

He built a grass-roots movement, becoming the first candidate to tap into the Internet and amass a war chest from small donors. He soon soared to the top of the polls, becoming the other Democratic candidates’ favorite punching bag.

But for all the momentum it started with, his campaign fizzled. He didn’t stand up to attacks. All those young people waving signs at rallies didn’t show up for him at the polls. The infamous non-concession speech and scream that capped a third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses had people asking if he was too angry, too hotheaded, too divorced from reality.

It wasn’t until four years later that another candidate invoking the theme of “hope” so captured the imagination of Democrats and bridged the divide between parties. Dean has learned something from Barack Obama. He called the president’s organization the best he has ever seen.

So Dean’s return to Iowa this week begged questions: Could he still ignite that spark 10 years later in the shadow of a President Obama? Had his years inside the Washington Beltway chastened him? Would he be as outspoken, as passionate?

And what was he really here for, besides to speak at a convention of the Iowa Federation of Labor?

The last of those questions remains unanswered. Dean wouldn’t admit to any presidential aspirations for 2016, telling a reporter, “At this point, I’m supporting Hillary Clinton.” But he never once mentioned her name in his speech, and he’s heading to New Hampshire. Who heads to New Hampshire after Iowa? Either those planning to run for president or those covering them.

In the only part of his speech that seemed scripted, Dean opened with a quip about his caucus-night debacle, but he delivered it humorlessly. “It’s great to be back and I promise not to list any states,” he said. Even so, he came close to doing that later, vowing there would be a debate about what’s right for the nation. “It’s going to start in Virginia and it’s going to come right here to Iowa!”

But he wasn’t here to talk about the presidency, insisted Dean, who as the national Democratic Party chairman, reportedly raised more money than any Democratic chairman had in the year after a presidential election. He was here to talk about how Democrats can win back state legislatures at the grass-roots level, with nonpartisan appeals on issues voters care about.

Clearly, however, that’s not something he was ready to do himself. He peppered his speech with partisan pronouncements like, “The Republicans are killing themselves every day by being so obstructionist.” And the Republican Party is “a pathetic shell of what it once was.”

No, Howard Dean doesn’t seem especially chastened. He even boasted that no one in Washington wanted him to be the party chairman, and that his first act in that post was to fire all the D.C. consultants. He has since founded a political action committee, Democracy for America.

“There’s not anybody — you may remember from my campaign — who’s as much of a firebrand about fighting for human rights,” Dean declared. He’s still at his best giving voice to outrage, declaring, as he did Wednesday, “The American dream depends upon not having a class of people that makes so much money they don’t have to think about anyone else.”

But he said he’s learning from people under 35 about the need to bring voters together without regard to party affiliation. “The kids who elected Obama are not Democrats,” Dean said. “They will vote for Democrats as long as Republicans are as far right as they are.” Young evangelicals, he said, care more about global warming and poverty than wedge issues like abortion and gay rights.

Even as he says things like that, Dean seems pulled in different directions. Even as he touts reaching out and playing nice with “enemies,” he seems conflicted about how much of a nice guy he really wants to be. If he does run again, he’ll need to figure out which of those two sides works best with voters and how to make them work with each other.